Jhoan Duran masks major issues for the Bullpen twins

So far, the Minnesota Twins have overcome a below-par bullpen and led the AL Central Division by one game against the Cleveland Guardians.

Jhoan Duran was one of the best and most reliable relievers in baseball, with a 2.06 ERA in 35 innings.

He has an incredible strikeout rate of 34.3%, and it’s easy to see why: he can hit triple figures with his fastball, and he’s got great movement, too.

However, behind him, things haven’t been so smooth in the Twins’ relief corps.

“#MNTwins Bullpen Win Probability Added per month if Jhoan Duran’s totals are removed: April: -0.19 (#27 in MLB). May: +0.66 (#10 in MLB). June: -2.52 (#29 in MLB). Total: -2.04 (#25 in MLB). It’s been a problem all season. Duran was just amazing enough to hide it sometimes,” Twins reporter Aaron Gleeman tweeted, pointing out a big problem for Minnesota.

#MNTwins Added bullpen win probability per month if Jhoan Duran’s totals are removed:

April: -0.19 (#27 in MLB)
May: +0.66 (#10 in MLB)
June: -2.52 (#29 in MLB)

Total: -2.04 (#25 in MLB)

It’s been a problem all season. Duran was just amazing enough to hide it sometimes.

—Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) July 1, 2022

The twins have to do something

The Twins are coming off two straight losses, against the Guardians, no less.

On both occasions, Duran was not on the receiving end of the home run.

The twins can’t just duplicate it and have two or three: they need to find more depth in their bullpen, but they haven’t been able to do that yet.

It’s not as easy as it seems.

The Twins’ bullpen is in the middle of the pack in the ERA, with a 3.89 rating that ranks them 16th, if you want a more traditional metric to measure its effectiveness.

Win Probability Added, or WPA, is about perfect, though.

Griffin Jax was good, but Caleb Thielbar was much worse than expected, as was Emilio Pagan.

Tyler Duffey has also been mediocre so far.

In other words, they will have to improve in order to keep their spot on the roster as the Twins, a contender, will look for replacements if the situation doesn’t change.